A red letter day for our nowhere industrial town

A minister's heading this way - he's closing us down

But what of my daughter - and what of my son

Just how will they live when the factory's gone?



Election day promises now null and void

They'll never rest 'til we're all unemployed

UB40's a book that you'll find very hard to put down

The dormant machinery screams - taunting the skies

Ghosts of the Halcyon dream sustaining our lives

No job for my daughter - no job for my son

How can I forgive them for what they have done?



New statesmen composing the lies for tomorrow's front page

What pays for the blunders they make - it's the working mans wage.



Election day promises now null and void

They'll never rest 'til we're all unemployed

UB40's a book that you'll find very hard to put down

They've issued us all with free rose tinted glasses

Job training schemes - leisure management classes

No news is good when you live on the wrong side of town.



The nadir of despair we have sunk to is easy to gauge

Our children grow thinner and ever more bitter with age.

From Newcastle's shipyards to Nottingham's pits

They strip down our country and sell it in bits

Election day promises seemingly now null and void

While microchip minds keep the industry grinding

We all hunt for jobs that we've no chance of finding

No change in the everyday lives of the mass unemployed.



A red letter day for our nowhere industrial town

A minister's heading this way - he's closing us down

But what of my daughter - and what of my son

Just how will they live when the factory's gone?



Election day promises now null and void

They'll never rest 'til we're all unemployed

UB40's a book that you'll find very hard to put down

They've issued us all with free rose tinted glasses

Job training schemes - leisure management classes

No news is good when you live on the wrong side of town